TALK RADIO WATCH

Will they run or won't they?

Kathy Shaidle is a blogging pioneer whose FiveFeetOfFury.com is now in its 12th year. Her most recent book â€“ "The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada Crushes Freedom in the Name of Human Rights, and Why It Matters to Americans" â€“ features an introduction by Rush Limbaugh guest host Mark Steyn.

“I don’t think there’s anyone out there who’s better,” Rush Limbaugh told listeners, responding to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s speech at the Reagan library. Limbaugh played clips and critiqued Christie point by point (FREE audio).

Christie’s admirers are frustrated that he hasn’t announced whether or not he will run for president. Sarah Palin’s followers must feel the same way and likely didn’t appreciate Limbaugh’s statement that he didn’t think either Christie or Palin would enter the race (FREE audio).

Michael Savage

Michael Savage’s first novel, the thriller “Abuse of Power,” debuted this weekend at No. 4 on the New York Times Bestseller list!

“Debuting at number four on the New York Times list is almost unheard of with a first book of fiction, even for celebrity writers,” said Charles Spicer of St. Martin’s Press.

“China is making fools of the U.S.,” declared Donald Trump on Sean Hannity’s radio show this week.

As for Obama’s “job creation” program, Trump said, “Theoretically, you should be able to create jobs for nothing” – never mind the estimated $200,000 per job that Obama’s plan cost American taxpayers (FREE audio).

Herman Cain won the Florida straw poll after the last televised debate. He called in to Hannity’s show, delighted by his growing popularity:

“The voice of the people is still more powerful than the voice of the media,” Cain said. “The media has been trying to turn this into a two person race,” but obviously, the people who voted in the straw poll begged to differ (FREE audio).

Mark Levin

Levin is an avid user of social media, particularly Facebook, but he’s exasperated by the annoying messages he’s been receiving recently about a man widely touted as a future president (FREE audio):

“Marco Rubio was born in Miami, Florida,” Levin stated flatly, “and if I get any more of this ‘birther’ crap up there, you’re gonna get banned.”

Levin read aloud an open letter to Obama from Ted Leonsis, the poor boy turned
billionaire who owns D.C. basketball and hockey teams. A major Democratic Party donor, Leonsis’s denunciation of Obama’s class warfare rhetoric is getting lots of attention. But not enough, according to Levin, who noted that the media is mostly ignoring this articulate and inspiring defense of capitalism and self-reliance, while constantly pushing Warren Buffett to the forefront (FREE audio).

Laura Ingraham

Laura welcomed former Obama staffer and author Betsy Myers on to discuss her new book about women in the business world. However, they started out disagreeing about the affected “accent” Obama used when speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Myers defended the president by pointing out “how authentic” Obama is, but Ingraham leapt at that assertion, asking, “He’s from Hawaii, how did he get that accent?”

“My grandson knows more about capitalism than Obama,” said former American Express CEO Harvey Golub on Laura’s show this week (FREE audio).

Like other radio hosts, Glenn Beck listened closely to Gov. Chris Christie’s speech at the Reagan Library and was led to speculate on Christie’s future.

“I’m tired of this game of Chris Christie,” Beck told listeners. “He says he’s not in. Great, let’s take the man at his word. I quite honestly cannot figure out why he’s not in. I don’t know if he has something to hide. I don’t believe this bullcrap that he’s not qualified.”

“Is Glenn Beck the next Oprah?” asked The Daily Beast, which speculated that Beck has shifted his goals from “being the next Rush Limbaugh” to becoming “a lifestyle guru for heartland conservatives.”

And now, from the left side of the dial …

It’s been at least a week since we’ve been obliged to call out Al Sharpton. Luckily, he just said something idiotic on the radio again.

“We make the news,” he told his listeners – meaning “I” of course. Displaying an almost pathological absence of introspection and caution, Sharpton actually boasted about his involvement in the widely over hyped “Jena 6” case and the shaming of Don Imus, while conveniently leaving out what Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer calls his “body count” (FREE audio).

Remember: Al Sharpton falsely accused New York cops of a racially motivated rape and incited a riot that lead to the death of eight people.

“Remember,” because Al Sharpton and his bosses at MSNBC want you to forget.